Is the dwarven beard fetish kind of creepy?

[Dalebert]

They have good racial abilities. I needed a medium-sized character with dwarven racials so I made a stout halfling and said that he drank Ent water and hulked out. Fluffing is explicitly allowed in AL. Now he's my dire halfling zealot barbarian.

I have characters with beards. It's not that I have a problem with beards per se. There's just this whole hyper-masculinity culture around dwarves and their fans that turns me off. Could I make a non-standard dwarf who's not this exaggerated stereotype? (Has a neatly-trimmed beard and doesn't hate elves and all other things non-hyper-masculine?) Yes, but I feel like I'd be in a constant fight with that stereotype and that's a battle I'm not interested in picking.

[Skylivedk]

You calling it hyper masculine is just you imposing your human centric narrow-mindedness on the good dwarven folk. A good dwarven lassie will grow both a beard and a substantial girth to protect against the cold of the mountain side. With all the blasphemy you're spewing, I wouldn't be surprised if you were halfelf yourself!

---

Build them how you like. You're a hero, a unique light of hope (or terror) whose actions will shake kingdoms and change the course of history. Maybe (s)he always felt a bit different, maybe (s)he had other cultural influences.

Gold dwarves in Faerun are already closer to what you describe.

[Millstone85]

Has a neatly-trimmed beardHasn't that become the standard already?


A good dwarven lassie will grow both a beard and a substantial girth to protect against the cold of the mountain side.The books have many illustrations of dwarven women and, unlike Pratchett's, they are beardless.

[Corran]

There's just this whole hyper-masculinity culture around dwarves and their fans that turns me off.
This is asking for trouble. And it is the prologue of a discussion that does not belong here IMO.


Could I make a non-standard dwarf who's not this exaggerated stereotype? (Has a neatly-trimmed beard and doesn't hate elves and all other things non-hyper-masculine?)
Yes. Just as long as your dwarf likes beer more than other alchoholic beverages. Rum can be an exception if your dwarf is a pirate.


Yes, but I feel like I'd be in a constant fight with that stereotype and that's a battle I'm not interested in picking.
Then don't. Or do and rp the heck out of it when you meet other dwarves, be it PC's or NPC's. It doesn't have to be a fight, but I will grant you that this also depends on the ones you are playing with, and not just on you.

It's true though, non-human races fall into a lot of clichés. And maybe that's unavoidable to some extent. But whether you play as the norm or against the norm is up to what you really want to play.

If there is some discussion to be had, I am not sure what this discussion is supposed to be, based on your op. It seems more trollish than clear on what it asks.

[RogueJK]

Hasn't that become the standard already?

The books have many illustrations of dwarven women and, unlike Pratchett's, they are beardless.

That's just propaganda perpetuated by the elves to force unrealistic beauty standards on impressionable young dwarves.


(Seriously, though... Tolkien's dwarves - both men and women - have beards, and that carried over into 1e and 2e, but WotC moved away from that with female dwarves in 3e/4e/5e.)

[Jophiel]

I dunno -- play with different people? I've heard a player with a dwarf character make reference to his beard... I don't know when. Maybe during Session 0's when describing our characters? It's certainly nothing I've seen people beating into the ground.

If I was going to play a "hyper-masculine" character, he'd probably be a human barbarian in the Conan model. Dwarves are too short.

[Zhorn]

Sounds like elf-talk to me.
Dwarves are not hyper-masculine. They're hyper dwarvish.
In all seriousness, I don't seem beard thing as being overly fetishized. Different crowds maybe?

[ImproperJustice]

I know lots of men IRL with beards who could eaisly be considered “beta-males”.
Apologies in advance if any find that term upseetting / confusing.

I think you can play your Dwarf any way you wish, there are no real limits within role playing, ao long as you are aware of what is and isn’t good taste within your group.

I am a man, currently running a female Dwarf Cleric and no one in the group seems to feel uncomfortable about it. I run her as tough, and self reliant, but never objected to the other female PCs tying ribbons to her armor and weapons.

Just have fun, and maybe you will pioneer a trend of self assured non-alpha Dwarves.

[Theodoric]

There's nothing in the rules that says your character needs to follow every stereotype; playing against type is even mentioned right on the first page of character creation. If your gaming group thinks otherwise, maybe that's not the best group for you.

[Unoriginal]

D&D 5e Dwarves aren't "hyper masculine".

They're hard-working (because they get lost in their work), love art and beautiful things, think that family is important, etc, but there's nothing particularly "hyper masculine" about them or their culture.

They don't hate elves, either (at least as a culture, since that kind of things vary from individual from individual). At worse they consider then chaotic and whimsical... which most of them are.

[JumboWheat01]

There's nothing in the rules that says your character needs to follow every stereotype; playing against type is even mentioned right on the first page of character creation.

Indeed, playing against type can be as much fun as playing with type. A halfling who's not sneaky in the least, instead a buff little barbarian who's idea of fun include running into the middle of a fight? Or a super-faithful little gnome in heavy plate following a paladin's code? Certainly not the norms in any sense of the races.

And heck, one of my favorite dwarves among all types of games and settings is Varric Tethras, a beardless dwarf rogue with a big ol' crossbow whose hobbies include writing books, drinking with friends, and telling the most outrageous lies to get out of just about any situation. He's certainly not the buff, squat, super proud warrior most dwarves are thought to be in any way, shape or form.

So make a dwarf, play against type. It can be a lot of fun. Or fully play to type, and explain to all those that pick on said stereotypes in the most serious way why this is what it is from a dwarven point of view.

[Naanomi]

Could be a natural component to it as well... if dwarves as a species grow their beard so fast as to be thoroughly shaggy the evening after a morning shave, there wouldn’t be a whole lot of reason to fight that battle to keep it trimmed tight

[BloodSnake'sCha]

There is a very clean dwarf with a grom beard that doesn't like to fight and get dirty in a book series in the Forgotten Realms, it is a book series about a drow ranger that use two scimitars that run away from his home in the underdark.

[ChildofLuthic]

Sounds like you dont actually want to play a dwarf dude. Dwarves are strong, practical and aggressive, which are masculine in our society. If you want to subvert expectations, give him a trait that is dwarfy but might be considered feminine in dwarf society. Being easily angered could be considered feminine, and so could being protective of your friends. Both are very emotional, but maybe considered manly to humans. Or maybe your dwarf is really stoic and calm, and THAT makes him girly by dwarf standards.

[Sigreid]

The beard thing definitely doesn't have to be hyper masculine. In our world there are several cultures where trimming a beard or cutting your hair is taboo. Not because it's "MAN!" but because that is the way your god(s) made you so your duty is to be what they made and be meticulous about cleaning and caring for your hair.

[Millstone85]

Sounds like you dont actually want to play a dwarf dude.So much so that they chose to play a "dire halfling" instead, using only the crunch of a dwarf.

[Contrast]

I've got a couple of characters on the go including a gnomish barbarian who worships the goddess of joy (conflicting stereotypes at all points) and a foppish human noble bard who is obsessed with his own vanity (leaning heavily into the noble/bard stereotype). People I've played with have enjoyed both - if anything I've probably had more people express enjoyment from playing with the gnome.

Which is to say stereotypes are what you make of them.

OP, I'm not really sure what you're trying to achieve with this thread as you acknowledge you're perfectly capable of playing against stereotype but don't want to. What are you looking to discuss/get out of the thread? Do I think dwarves are creepy? Nope. Its worth saying your example of a non-stereotypical dwarf having a neatly trimmed beard and not hating elves - the mention of beards in their entry in the PHB specifically highlights they carefully groom their bears (*beards - typo...hopefully...:smallbiggrin:) and the entry on elves is far from hatred. So it seems perhaps you're the one introducing a stereotype and then deciding you don't like it rather than 5E forcing one on you.

[Tanarii]

No, but the fans with a dwarves with Scottish accent fetish is definitely creepy.

Everyone knows Dwarves are Norse, not Scottish. Possibly Danes at the outside.

[Sigreid]

No, but the fans with a dwarves with Scottish accent fetish is definitely creepy.

Everyone knows Dwarves are Norse, not Scottish. Possibly Danes at the outside.

It's actually most of the players that play dwarves that creep me out. With one exception they've all taken dwarf as a justification for being rude and obnoxious.

[Tanarii]

It's actually most of the players that play dwarves that creep me out. With one exception they've all taken dwarf as a justification for being rude and obnoxious.
As a general rule, that's how far too many people try to represent a low Cha at the table.

And the older editions of D&D often strongly implied or outright stated that was part of the reason for low Cha is dwarves. Gruff, blunt, and/or rude were commonly used words describing them.

[Sigreid]

As a generally rule, that's how far too many people try to represent a low Cha at the table.

And the older editions of D&D often strongly implied or outright stated that was part of the reason for low Cha is dwarves. Gruff, blunt, and/or rude were commonly used words describing them.

Yes. And over the years the stereotype seems to have gone from a blunt, practical people to really and angry alcoholic to far in his cups.

[Unoriginal]

Yes. And over the years the stereotype seems to have gone from a blunt, practical people to really and angry alcoholic to far in his cups.

That may be because of Warhammer Dwarfs.

[E’Tallitnics]

[…]
I am a man, currently running a female Dwarf Cleric and no one in the group seems to feel uncomfortable about it. I run her as tough, and self reliant, but never objected to the other female PCs tying ribbons to her armor and weapons.
[…]


For the AL Season 3 I played a Female Dwarf Paladin of the Ancients and used this image (http://orig13.deviantart.net/fbf9/f/2014/009/7/4/dwarf_female_by_samosoboy-d71hrpx.jpg) as her avatar.

Nothing but positive comments!

As for dwarves being “hyper-masculine” because of their beards, well…my lady would like a word with you.

[Pex]

They have good racial abilities. I needed a medium-sized character with dwarven racials so I made a stout halfling and said that he drank Ent water and hulked out. Fluffing is explicitly allowed in AL. Now he's my dire halfling zealot barbarian.

I have characters with beards. It's not that I have a problem with beards per se. There's just this whole hyper-masculinity culture around dwarves and their fans that turns me off. Could I make a non-standard dwarf who's not this exaggerated stereotype? (Has a neatly-trimmed beard and doesn't hate elves and all other things non-hyper-masculine?) Yes, but I feel like I'd be in a constant fight with that stereotype and that's a battle I'm not interested in picking.

Misandry much?

No sympathy from me.

[Grey Watcher]

I mean, outside of stuff that's generally presented jokingly anyway (Diggy Diggy Hole, etc.), most people I've encountered play dwarves reasonably, even when they lean into the stereotype. The beer/ale/mead/whatever thing isn't presented as "MUST HAVE RAUCOUS DRINKING ALWAYS," but rather as "it's just how I unwind at the end of a long day." Maybe the dwarf in question is actually a snobby connoisseur and more closely resembles the "Brooklyn Hipster" stereotype than anything (which carries with it a reputation for being effete).

As for the beard specifically, it hasn't been a big deal in my experience outside of various memes. A recent campaign had one of us playing a dwarf woman with a beard that I completely forgot was there for like 2/3 of the campaign, because it just went unmentioned. What finally reminded me was when the *player* shared with us some artwork she'd made of her character.

And hey, if your AL tablemates insist on projecting the dwarven caricature onto you, just have your character roll their eyes at the silly human stereotyping.

As an aside, I can't tell if Dwarven Hipster as a character concept is hilarious or horrifying.

[Pyramid Pug]

I've honestly don't see how any of that is "hyper-masculine" or in fact associated with dwarves at all other than they usually having beards. As others mentioned in the thread, the traits usually associated with dwarves are a love of ale, hard work, strong familial ties, orderly societies, stubbornness and hardiness and impecable craftsmanship. None of those are hyper-masculine or even masculine at all.

The beards in fact are usually well kept if you think about it. Forges are usually associated with dwarves and an unkempt beard is an hazard on any professional crafting occupation. Plus there's the strong community aspect of the dwarves (which is usually a development from the familial ties mentioned before), that would impose grooming standarts on anyone given they are raised, live and work together. If ya can't be trusted to have a minimum of discipline to take care of ya beard, how can ya take the responsabilities in a dwarven society?

As for the whole hatred of elves that would depend on the setting of course, and the only ones I can think of are Tolkien (which has quite the age to it, and it's about overcoming it anyway), and Warhammer Fantasy (but then everyone's a douche in that setting, much as I love it :smallbiggrin:)

The only other trait I can think of.. is gruffiness? but that's not masculine either? I'm really at a loss here, can't really understand where ya coming from. I get the feel that's either somehow more the behaviour of the players at yer group or that you simply got that mental image of dwarves that ain't really correct.

Heck I play a dwarven war cleric that's as cookie cutter as a dwarf can be (was a drunken lout, family got fed up of his antics, got attacked in the tunnels and saved by a patrol which was a wake up call, enlisted in the militia where he was aprenticed to the forgemaster to help with gear maintenance and found his calling in the service of Clangeddin Silverbeard), and in my 8 years with the character never did anything.. hyper masculine? don't even know what that could be..

Closest I can think of, is the constant friendly competition my character has with proving that dwarven ale is better than elven wine :smallbiggrin:
Heck, the other player in my group is a barbarian half-elf that got found as a kid by a patrol with my character in, and my character took him as an adopted son.

Also Varric Tethras from Dragon Age is one of my favorite characters, and he's a shaved dwarf.

Hope the thread sooths yer mental image of dwarves somewhat and helps ya find enjoyment in them. They're one of my favorite fantasy races :smallbiggrin:

[loki_ragnarock]

While I was playing through Curse of Strahd I felt I needed a back up to my cleric, because I was pretty convinced he would die for the entire campaign. This knowledge cleric was all mental stats and overbearing confidence and I figured I needed a palette cleanser and a strong change of pace lest I fall into a trap of keeping things too samey. I needed something opposite.


Enter Magdelyn "Maggie" Opalbones, a champion fighter mountain dwarf. Possessed of enormous strength, limitless endurance, and quick limbs, she was an excellent fighter. But she had terrible self esteem. For she was too tall (standing 5'2), too thin (curving inward between hip and shoulder), and she couldn't even grow a mustache on skin perfectly smooth and unblemished; the antithesis of dwarven beauty. For what dwarven lass might attract a dwarven lad when she had lips too high to kiss, a waist so thin it may snap, and no hair upon her face to grasp in a passionate embrace. A hurtful human once referred to her (admiringly) cruelly as a "thick-built elf," who she of course punched into unconsciousness before later weeping in private.
She was always gracious and civil to the people she met, as she always showed others the simple courtesy that she wished others would show her. But that politeness has too many elements of suspicion and distance to really make her a force for swaying opinion; are these humans/elves/halflings making fun of her behind their words?


There's no rule that says you can't play against type. No rule against playing a dwarven bombshell who lacks confidence in her appearance... if that's something that appeals to you or you think will be fun.

[Imbalance]

The only creepy thing here is how op went from "beard fetish" to "Fluffing is explicitly allowed in AL" without batting an eye.

[Anonymouswizard]

As a side note Dwarves in Birthright explicitly kept their beards trimmed (and were also associated with the crossbow).

Now my dwarves tend to work on a basic principle: long hair and beards are a status symbol. Elders, lorekeepers, and nobles tend to have them, but they also tend to not do any physical work beyond moving books and wine glasses. Other dwarves have beards but tend to keep them short, being able to work with long hair and/or a long beard is the sign of a master at their craft.

As a side note dwarven criminals are kept shaven and have marks (detailing crime, sentence and end date) tattooed on their heads (generally scalps). Once they have served their sentence they are allowed to grow out their hair to cover these marks, and it's considered a major faux-pas to discuss any marks a nonshaven dwarf might have.

On the other hand elves in this setting are completely hairless. Forget this 'head hair but no body hair' nonsense, my elves are either able to grow the same kinds of hair as other races or completely unable to grow any depending on the setting (however they may culturally tend towards shaving it off).

[Dalebert]

Misandry much?

No sympathy from me.

I did a poor job of describing what is really bothering me. No, what I failed to describe was that on many occasions with people I game with regularly, dwarf fandom frequently seems packaged with a passionate and outspoken hatred of elves, and that hatred seems tied to the perception of elves as being graceful and somewhat androgynous. I don't see the same degree of intolerance directed toward dwarves from elf fans in general. And I don't just mean they play their dwarves as hating elves. I mean they will gladly be condescending themselves toward elves and people who like to play them.

Thank you for your patience. It often takes a little conversation to extract from me what's really bothering me. This is a known problem I have.

[Unoriginal]

I did a poor job of describing what is really bothering me. No, what I failed to describe was that on many occasions with people I game with regularly, dwarf fandom frequently seems packaged with a passionate and outspoken hatred of elves, and that hatred seems tied to the perception of elves as being graceful and somewhat androgynous. I don't see the same degree of intolerance directed toward dwarves from elf fans in general. And I don't just mean they play their dwarves as hating elves. I mean they will gladly be condescending themselves toward elves and people who like to play them.

Thank you for your patience. It often takes a little conversation to extract from me what's really bothering me. This is a known problem I have.

That's not a 5e thing, though. 5e dwarves don't hate elves in particular.

Hating elves (because "elves are arrogant snobs who think they're better than everyone lol") is basically a meme, just ask 4chan.

[Contrast]

I did a poor job of describing what is really bothering me. No, what I failed to describe was that on many occasions with people I game with regularly, dwarf fandom frequently seems packaged with a passionate and outspoken hatred of elves, and that hatred seems tied to the perception of elves as being graceful and somewhat androgynous. I don't see the same degree of intolerance directed toward dwarves from elf fans in general. And I don't just mean they play their dwarves as hating elves. I mean they will gladly be condescending themselves toward elves and people who like to play them.

Thank you for your patience. It often takes a little conversation to extract from me what's really bothering me. This is a known problem I have.

Well you did just create a thread to complain about how you find dwarves and people who like playing them creepy so...congratulations on balancing out the intolerance I guess :smalltongue:

More seriously it sounds like your problem isn't with dwarves, its with the attitude of some of the people you play with who also happen to like playing dwarves. I would suggest just playing one yourself and showing them there's more to dwarves than that but you said you didn't want to so...*shrugs* ignore them or don't play with them? Or just don't play dwarves - it's not that big a deal to have favourites and dislikes, there's plenty of other races to choose from.

[Anonymouswizard]

Hating elves (because "elves are arrogant snobs who think they're better than everyone lol") is basically a meme, just ask 4chan.

To be fair a lot of elf fluff tends to paint them as better without justifying it. Although universal elf hate is certainly an overreaction.

My personal dislike is aimed at dragonborn for a simple reason: I like lizardfolk and dragonborn tend to steal their spotlight. And due to the breath weapon refluffing doesn't work, and most of the time if I try to play a noncore race which overlaps with a core race in any way I'll have to put up with whining.

"Oh why are you playing a lizardfolk, you could have played a dragonborn!" Shut up before my cleric sticks his spear in your spleen and then swims off to pray that the wound gets infected.

[Unoriginal]

To be fair a lot of elf fluff tends to paint them as better without justifying it. Although universal elf hate is certainly an overreaction.

Oh sure. AD&D had a notable book on this subject, if I'm not mistaken.


I like 5e's version of Corellon and the elves's "Paradise Lost", personally. Also how the elves are actually jealous the Dwarves have a creator deity who gives a damn about giving their lives direction.

[Kadesh]

Play and describe your character how you want. I have an Egyptian style Hill (erm, Pyramid) dwarf Long Death Monk who has his body ritually scraped and oiled like a priest.

Noone really cares about your 'hyper-masculinity' nonsense you've brought up, unless youre worried about the Gillette effect of a company latching onto popularist movements in an effort to corner a sales market: in which case, well, WotC are well down that bung hole in any case.

If people turn playful ribbing of your dwarfs girliness into something more sinister, then those people are probably not people to associate with. If you can't take a bit of banter, though, then perhaps it is time to have a word with yourself if you're getting worked up over someone saying you have a feminine made up character in a make believe game.

I've got mates who are firefighters, special forces, more who a conventional forces, armed response police, former professional boxers, doormen, who all either struggle to grow a beard, cannot do so for work, and/or don't want to.

Not one of those I would describe as anything other doublehard hyper masculine bastards.

I know a couple of Israeli chicks who worked closely with Shayetet-13. I was picked out of bike crash by a female paramedic who was trained as Air Ambulance.There are some close friends of my friends who have worked and taught Syrian women who fought alongside the men and worked as Snipers. The work they did was highly associated with being masculine or having a masculine attitude. None of them had beards.

My wife is ex-Finnish military. She still has bigger balls than me for going out in the cold. Although tbf, she can grow a cracking moustache.

Having a beard doesn't make you masculine. Not having a beard doesn't make you feminine. Insulting someone outside of a joke they are comfortable with because they have or don't have a beard is symptomatic of being a ****.

[Jophiel]

"Oh why are you playing a lizardfolk, you could have played a dragonborn!"
"Because taking a giant bite out of my opponents is way more badass than spitting little poofs of fire at them"

[guachi]

No, but the fans with a dwarves with Scottish accent fetish is definitely creepy.

Everyone knows Dwarves are Norse, not Scottish. Possibly Danes at the outside.

Dwarves all speak like they just walked off the set of Fargo. Definitely not Scottish.

[Merudo]

To be fair a lot of elf fluff tends to paint them as better without justifying it. Although universal elf hate is certainly an overreaction.

My personal dislike is aimed at dragonborn for a simple reason: I like lizardfolk and dragonborn tend to steal their spotlight. And due to the breath weapon refluffing doesn't work, and most of the time if I try to play a noncore race which overlaps with a core race in any way I'll have to put up with whining.

"Oh why are you playing a lizardfolk, you could have played a dragonborn!" Shut up before my cleric sticks his spear in your spleen and then swims off to pray that the wound gets infected.

Strange - playing a Lizardfolk is typically a much better idea than playing a Dragonborn.

Dragonborns have mediocre stats (+2 strength +1 charisma is awkward for anything but Paladin), and fierce competition (Half-Elves blow them out of the water, even more so with the SCAG variants).

Lizardfolks on the other hand have the always helpful +2 CON bonus, and a +1 to WIS. Clerics, Druids, and Monks all can benefit from this. Their main competitor is the Hill Dwarf, which is roughly as good.

[Unoriginal]

Dwarves all speak like they just walked off the set of Fargo. Definitely not Scottish.

For some reason now I want something where Dwarves speaks as if they walked off the set of "Goodfellas".

[Mordaedil]

If you want to play against type, may I recommend playing a gold dwarf wizard specializing in maintaining your appearance and trying to speak in a very flowery language and consistently insist people read your literature and be estranged from your family because you like adventuring and learning new things from new cultures and you find your traveling companions absolutely fascinating and feel like you could learn from them forever, no matter what profession they have.

[Millstone85]

My personal dislike is aimed at dragonborn for a simple reason: I like lizardfolk and dragonborn tend to steal their spotlight.A character concept I am considering is that of a lizardfolk draconic sorceress who occasionally passes herself off as a dragonborn. Her tribe would serve a silver dragon, her very distant ancestor, alongside a reformed tribe of kobolds.

It could be fun trying to explain the discrepancies, like the lack of breath weapon or, sorry not sorry, the flat chest.

[Unoriginal]

It could be fun trying to explain the discrepancies, like the lack of breath weapon or, sorry not sorry, the flat chest.

5e designers have confirmed female dragonborns don't have breasts.


https://youtu.be/m6dk6asUq9E

The dragonborn breasts talk starts at 45:50 ends at 48:00. Apparently it was decided to give them breasts in 4e so people could visually distinguish male and female dragonborns in the 4e minis format, and done away with the 5e transition.

[Grod_The_Giant]

As an aside, I can't tell if Dwarven Hipster as a character concept is hilarious or horrifying.
"I was into mining when it was still underground."

[Unoriginal]

"I was into mining when it was still underground."

Well played.

"I was into hammering steel before it was cool."

[Millstone85]

5e designers have confirmed female dragonborns don't have breasts.Then I guess the one in SCAG p113 just thought boobplates are cool.

[Unoriginal]

Then I guess the one in SCAG p113 just thought boobplates are cool.

Could be recycled art.

[Dankus Memakus]

If the players you play with do this kind of stuff, the blame is with the players. Usually i see dwarves played as like friends of elves they just dont care to admit it. I have never seen beards fetishized and i wouldnt call dwarves any more masculine then humans. I tend to think of their culture like vikings.

[Anonymouswizard]

Strange - playing a Lizardfolk is typically a much better idea than playing a Dragonborn.

Dragonborns have mediocre stats (+2 strength +1 charisma is awkward for anything but Paladin), and fierce competition (Half-Elves blow them out of the water, even more so with the SCAG variants).

Lizardfolks on the other hand have the always helpful +2 CON bonus, and a +1 to WIS. Clerics, Druids, and Monks all can benefit from this. Their main competitor is the Hill Dwarf, which is roughly as good.

It's due to a heavy dislike for non-core races among a lot of people I play with. In their view because it's not in core then it's unbalanced or not as well thought out.

Lizardfolk also win out on the fluff front, they just have more of it and have had it develop more organically.


A character concept I am considering is that of a lizardfolk draconic sorceress who occasionally passes herself off as a dragonborn. Her tribe would serve a silver dragon, her very distant ancestor, alongside a reformed tribe of kobolds.

It could be fun trying to explain the discrepancies, like the lack of breath weapon or, sorry not sorry, the flat chest.

Oh Pelor, I hate the prominent breasts on female dragonborn. The one time I did play one she was explicitly flat chested (and in the same party as a bearded dwarf woman).

My planned character is an intersex (gender: big lizard, sexuality: go away) lizardfolk nature cleric who doesn't believe in dragonborn. Just big lizardfolks is all, they just learn this strange battle magic, don't know why they refuse ta teach me.

[Skylivedk]

Dwarves usually have this weird Viking/Norse cultural reference (like they do in the Order of the Stick). It's honestly a pretty horrible cultural mesh and if Scandinavians gave a damn they'd be "cultural approbation"-protesting all over that slight... Not to forget blond Thor with long handle Mjolnir 🤮

The misfits:
Vikings were traders and explorers. Dwarves are, usually, isolationist craftsmen.

Vikings had some of the flattest, most democratic power structures of their times. Dwarves usually have strict hierarchies.

Viking culture was oral. Dwarves are quite often depicted as keeping thorough journals. Vikings had light armour, single-strap shields made for, almost Wing-Tsun style, one on one combat. Dwarven warriors are usually decked out in heavy armour, fight in disciplined squadrons with double strap shields suitable for Shield walls (yeah the movie series Vikings f'd this one up as well, to Hel with them).

The two fit well in the sense that women in both societies could engage in warfare.

[Whit]

The beard is a sign of age and respect besides it’s a great napkin

[Xania]

Dwarves were the oposite of elves from the beggining in the norse myths, dwarf being synonymous of dark elf, so it's logical they don't get along well.

Can't say nothing about those players you have, in that last comment i don't like how the part of them extending it to people playing an elf sounds.

[Willie the Duck]

I have never seen beards fetishized and i wouldnt call dwarves any more masculine then humans. I tend to think of their culture like vikings.

I think this might be the issue. I also don't think I've seen the beards fetishized, but I've also never seen a male dwarf without one (excluding some of Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarves crew). I think I remember one in a fantasy novel, but the clean-shavenness was considered a notable exception. Likewise, dwarves aren't more masculine than other races, but I'd be hard pressed to think of a even-semi-famous female dwarf in literature prior to OotS or LFG (which at least have female dwarven secondary characters). I think the OP (or the people they are playing with) simply overlaid a hyper-masculine interpretation onto dwarves because they hadn't seen much non-masculinity represented in dwarves--who, like gnomes, and halflings outside of Tolkien--get second billing to Elves.

[Unoriginal]

Dwarves usually have this weird Viking/Norse cultural reference (like they do in the Order of the Stick). It's honestly a pretty horrible cultural mesh and if Scandinavians gave a damn they'd be "cultural approbation"-revolting all over that slight... Not to forget blond Thor with long handle Mjolnir 🤮

The misfits:
Vikings were traders and explorers. Dwarves are, usually, isolationist craftsmen.

Vikings had some of the flattest, most democratic power structures of their times. Dwarves usually have strict hierarchies.

Viking culture was oral. Dwarves are quite often depicted as keeping thorough journals. Vikings had light armour, single-strap shields made for, almost Wing-Tsun style, one on one combat. Dwarven warriors are usually decked out in heavy armour, fight in disciplined squadrons with double strap shields suitable for Shield walls (yeah the movie series Vikings f'd this one up as well, to Hel with them).

The two fit well in the sense that women in both societies could engage in warfare.

Dwarves really have nothing Viking about them. They have some Norse aesthetic and themes because, well, they come from Norse myths.



Vikings were traders and explorers.

And pirates, and raiders.

I know they didn't only do that, but them doing it was notable.


Dwarves were the oposite of elves from the beggining in the norse myths, dwarf being synonymous of dark elf, so it's logical they don't get along well.

How synonymous they were is an *highly* debated topic among experts.

As for the elves and dwarves being opposed, some dwarves were clearly elves. Like Gandalfr the dwarf king ("Gangalfr" meaning "wand-elf").

Categories of mythical beings were pretty permeable in North stories.

[Grey Watcher]

Dwarves usually have this weird Viking/Norse cultural reference (like they do in the Order of the Stick). It's honestly a pretty horrible cultural mesh and if Scandinavians gave a damn they'd be "cultural approbation"-revolting all over that slight... Not to forget blond Thor with long handle Mjolnir 🤮

The misfits:
Vikings were traders and explorers. Dwarves are, usually, isolationist craftsmen.

Vikings had some of the flattest, most democratic power structures of their times. Dwarves usually have strict hierarchies.

Viking culture was oral. Dwarves are quite often depicted as keeping thorough journals. Vikings had light armour, single-strap shields made for, almost Wing-Tsun style, one on one combat. Dwarven warriors are usually decked out in heavy armour, fight in disciplined squadrons with double strap shields suitable for Shield walls (yeah the movie series Vikings f'd this one up as well, to Hel with them).

The two fit well in the sense that women in both societies could engage in warfare.

I have a hunch that I don't know how I'd go about verifying or refuting: a lot of it goes back to Wagner's Ring Cycle. I mean, it's really the first time Germanic-Norse mythology enters pop culture in a major way (to the best of my knowledge). Between blurring Norse and Germanic cultural tropes and some outright artistic license, a lot of weird stuff crept in (eg, the whole "helmets with horns" thing was apparently something the costume designer just made up because it seemed cool) and was echoed by later artists (eg Tolkien and especially the various people working off of his work).

Just a guess, but it would explain a lot.

[KorvinStarmast]

I know lots of men IRL with beards who could eaisly be considered “beta-males”. Apologies in advance if any find that term upseetting / confusing. I didn't start wearing a beard until I was in my 50's. Had a mustache from about age 22. Have been described as Type A / Alpha Male more than once. The OP was engaging in Poisoning the Well.
We had a companion to my Half Orc Champion who was a dwarf Rogue/Fighter ... bald. Beard kept rigorously trimmed. (A vain dwarf, to be sure). Never drank beer, but hard spirits? A weakness. (That little party no longer exists, sadly).

There's just this whole hyper-masculinity culture around dwarves and their fans that turns me off. Please look up "Poisoning the Well" and "Painting with a Broad Brush" and learn why people responded to this trollish opener. (I understand the desire to break out of tropes, and will share something with you at the end of this post from an old campaign).

This is asking for trouble. And it is the prologue of a discussion that does not belong here IMO. Simple Poisoning the Well.

Everyone knows Dwarves are Norse, not Scottish. Possibly Danes at the outside.Germanic/Norse. Zwerg. From Middle High German twerc, from Old High German twerc, from Proto-Germanic *dwergaz. The development Middle High German tw- > modern German zw- is regular. Compare Dutch dwerg, English dwarf, Danish dværg.
Usage:
1. dwarf, midget
2. gnome (mythology)

For the AL Season 3 I played a Female Dwarf Paladin of the Ancients and used this image (http://orig13.deviantart.net/fbf9/f/2014/009/7/4/dwarf_female_by_samosoboy-d71hrpx.jpg) as her avatar.

As for dwarves being “hyper-masculine” because of their beards, well…my lady would like a word with you. *claps*

Misandry much? No sympathy from me. On point.

Play and describe your character how you want. I have an Egyptian style Hill (erm, Pyramid) dwarf Long Death Monk who has his body ritually scraped and oiled like a priest.

Noone really cares about your 'hyper-masculinity' nonsense you've brought up, unless youre worried about the Gillette effect of a company latching onto popularist movements in an effort to corner a sales market: in which case, well, WotC are well down that bung hole in any case.

Having a beard doesn't make you masculine. Not having a beard doesn't make you feminine. Insulting someone outside of a joke they are comfortable with because they have or don't have a beard is symptomatic of being a ****. Perhaps an overreaction to the OP, but an understandable reaction to a well poisoning exercise, as was Pex reaction.

"I was into mining when it was still underground." *golf clap* :smallbiggrin:

The story of an Old School Beardless Dwarf:
Good buddy of mine played an AD&D 1e dwarf. We had a very tough battle and one of our party died rather horribly. It really got to him In Character. He shaved his beard in mourning, but kept the beard in a bag. When the "character's cousin" showed up (so that the player had a character in the party, roll up a new char deal ... ) our Dwarf companion spent a day braiding that dwarf beard hair into a custom grip for the character's sword. (DM loved the coolness of that RP, as did the rest of the table). The first combat we had with hobgoblins after that, the DM awarded the new character a +1 on attack rolls (not damages) due to what we might now call inspiration. (It was the DM awarding something cool in game, that's how we rolled Old School ...)
After that, it was just the coolest custom grip on a sword anyone had in our party.
Our friend dwarf kept clean shaven for an in campaign year before he started to grow it back.
Mourning.

[Skylivedk]

Dwarves really have nothing Viking about them. They have some Norse aesthetic and themes because, well, they come from Norse myths.
Or rather Tolkien's take on Norse Dwarves - a few steps away already.



And pirates, and raiders.

I know they didn't only do that, but them doing it was notable.
Yeah of course... I thought people were aware of those details :smalltongue: (granted, that affair with Lindisfarne was a bad day at the office for the monks). I probably should have added fishermen, shepherds and small scale farmers as well. They did a lot more raiding than pirating; naval battles were not really their thing. The boats were low in the water with no built in artillery. Their main advantages being speed, manoeuvrability and, due to the rather flat bottoms, the ability to sail more or less directly onto beaches with no need for rowing boats. The last feature was the reason why the French, cavalry based, defence had such a torrid time with the Vikings. At least until they made the fateful decision to give Vikings the Northern part of their country to keep other Vikings away. Hindsight is 20/20, but giving Vikings horses was bound to spell disaster. Luckily, for the French, mostly disaster for England (hello Wilhelm the Conqueror and your




How synonymous they were is an *highly* debated topic among experts.

As for the elves and dwarves being opposed, some dwarves were clearly elves. Like Gandalfr the dwarf king ("Gangalfr" meaning "wand-elf").

Categories of mythical beings were pretty permeable in North stories.
That is understandable considering how common shapechanging is in Norse mythology.

[Tvtyrant]

I have played such a dwarf. When I was 12, and traded the parties assistance for a keg of ale.

I also mostly play dwarf clerics, but I don't think after the first one any of them match that description. Usually I'm playing out obscure theological disputes from history and being the grumpy bandaid.

[Man_Over_Game]

It's true though, non-human races fall into a lot of clichés. And maybe that's unavoidable to some extent. But whether you play as the norm or against the norm is up to what you really want to play.

I feel like that's what you're supposed to get with a race. You're not just being an Elf for the Dex bonuses or the lack of sleep, you're buying into the fact that everyone hates you and you're totally fine with hating them back in mutual disgust.

We think of everyone being their own person, because we're humans and we value free will and individuality. But all of these magical creatures value humans for those concepts because they lack them in themselves. I'm not saying that a Dwarf can't be weird and clean shaven and enjoy the outdoors, but I am saying that the same Dwarf is definitely an outlier and should be.

In the same way, playing a Bugbear has enough disadvantages that aren't in its statblock for it to still be a rare choice.

[Unoriginal]

I feel like that's what you're supposed to get with a race. You're not just being an Elf for the Dex bonuses or the lack of sleep, you're buying into the fact that everyone hates you and you're totally fine with hating them back in mutual disgust.

We think of everyone being their own person, because we're humans and we value free will and individuality. But all of these magical creatures value humans for those concepts because they lack them in themselves. I'm not saying that a Dwarf can't be weird and clean shaven and enjoy the outdoors, but I am saying that the same Dwarf is definitely an outlier and should be.


Sorry, but that's nonsense. Dwarves and Elves and Gnomes have just as much free will and individuality as Humans.

The thing is, stereotypes are something you see from the outside of the culture. Same way that in our world, people have widely inaccurate stereotypes about the different nations.

It's more than probable that that dwarf fighter an human would consider a stereotype sees the human as fitting the stereotypical idea dwarven culture has of humans.

[Corran]

I feel like that's what you're supposed to get with a race. You're not just being an Elf for the Dex bonuses or the lack of sleep, you're buying into the fact that everyone hates you and you're totally fine with hating them back in mutual disgust.

We think of everyone being their own person, because we're humans and we value free will and individuality. But all of these magical creatures value humans for those concepts because they lack them in themselves. I'm not saying that a Dwarf can't be weird and clean shaven and enjoy the outdoors, but I am saying that the same Dwarf is definitely an outlier and should be.

In the same way, playing a Bugbear has enough disadvantages that aren't in its statblock for it to still be a rare choice.
Yeah, each race needs sth to make it distinct from one another, and more importantly from humans. So that's why each race falls into some certain clichés. So, on one hand we need to shoehorn each race enough so that it's not another human with different stat bumps, or in other words so that it can have an identity. But on the other hand, if we do this too much, it's easy to have that race be a caricature and seem as something less believable, something less real, because of how unrealistic this actually is (IMO) when you start thinking about it realistically. So how much is too much and how much is enough? I think that can only be answered on an individual level, as we don't all use the same criteria as far as suspension of disbelief goes (possibly because the concept of generalization means different things to different people from an irl point of view).

[Morty]

This problem is as old as dirt, not confined to 5E, let alone D&D. I remember people complaining about it in Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay. When people are new to roleplaying, or simply can't be bothered to do it, they often take a stereotype and crank it up. Same thing as with fighters being dumb door-openers or wizards being arrogant.

That being said, traits associated with dwarves - beards, drinking, holding grudges, being crude and blunt - are often considered masculine in our society, so I'm confused as to why people seem to have such a problem with that.

And on a separate note, I've always enjoyed Ogren from Dragon Age: Origins as a take on the dwarven stereotype. On the surface, he's the image of a dwarf warrior - perpetually drunk, belligerent, simple-minded like a hammer. But those traits make him a disgrace in the eyes of his fellow dwarves and stem from some rather serious issues he's drowning in booze.

[Laserlight]

In reply to OP: As far as most people go, it's a stereotype, not a fetish.

Even if you were one of the tiny minority who actually do have a beard fetish, it wouldn't be creepy.

If your fetish was beards and Sir John Tolkien was stalking you and he wrote all dwarves as being bearded because he knew you have a thing for short burly Norse guys and he wanted to get your attention, okay, then it's creepy.

Otherwise, play a Dire Halfling, or a beardless dwarf, and carry on. This is basically a game of Let's Pretend, so don't be stressing.

[Brotherbock]

Sorry, but that's nonsense. Dwarves and Elves and Gnomes have just as much free will and individuality as Humans.



Those races don't actually exist. :) They therefore have as much free will and individuality as a given GM wants them to have. They aren't human, they don't come from the same genetic ancestor as humans, and therefore there is absolutely no guarantee that they function at all the way humans do. Depending on the world, it's entirely plausible that whatever god created whatever race decided that the race would always have a certain trait. Said god could for example make it a standard trait of dwarves that they exhibit the same behavior towards gold, all of them, as human heroin addicts exhibit towards heroin.

That said, there's nothing in the game books as written to mandate that you're wrong. But it seems to me that, just given the way most non-human races get played by the vast majority of players, the claim that they have less individuality seems accurate. People most often play the stereotype, and get surprised when it's broken. That suggests that most players and GMs in fact do accept that non-human races have less diversity.

In fact, check out the PHB's text on the various races.

Dwarves: "all dwarves" are "united" by a "burning hatred of goblins and orcs" and "commitment to clan and tradition". "Male dwarves value their beards highly", and "their courage" is "easily a match for any of the larger folk." "Individual dwarves are determined and loyal, true to their word and decisive in action, sometimes to the point of stubbornness." They love beauty, they dislike boats, they are "slow to trust".

Elves: "love nature and magic, art and artistry, mustic and poetry, and the good things of the world." "They favor elegant clothing in bright colors, and they enjoy simple yet lovely jewelry." "They are more often amused than excited, and more likely to be curious than greedy. They tend to remain aloof and unfazed by petty happenstance." "They reply to petty insults with distain..." "They dislike the pace of human society" and they are "haughty but gracious".

Humans: They "strive to achieve" and they are "innovators, the achievers, and the pioneers of the worlds." But also we are very clearly told that "There is no typical human. They are "the most adaptable people...among the common races" and "they have widely varying tastes, morals, and customs". "They live fully in the present...but also plan for the future" [which sounds contradictory, but oh well]. "Individually and as a group, humans are adaptable opportunists". They have "so much more variety than other cultures".

In short, the PHB itself basically says to new players 'Dwarves and Elves act like this and this, they value such and such and so and so. Humans are "so much more" varied.' The default is that the other races do not have as much individuality as humans.

I, like you, tend to try to ignore that and make them more varied. But the default is that they are less varied.

[GlenSmash!]

My wife is currently playing a Female Dwarf druid that has no accent, doesn't drink (but does do drugs) and has no beard.

So I say play whatever dwarf you want. Or don't.

[Brotherbock]

My wife is currently playing a Female Dwarf druid that has no accent

No accent, or just has your wife's accent? :)

[Willie the Duck]

No accent, or just has your wife's accent? :)

Going to guess he meant, 'no dwarven accent, as the more general culture of the game world would understand it.'

[Luccan]

I think this might be the issue. I also don't think I've seen the beards fetishized, but I've also never seen a male dwarf without one (excluding some of Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarves crew). I think I remember one in a fantasy novel, but the clean-shavenness was considered a notable exception. Likewise, dwarves aren't more masculine than other races, but I'd be hard pressed to think of a even-semi-famous female dwarf in literature prior to OotS or LFG (which at least have female dwarven secondary characters). I think the OP (or the people they are playing with) simply overlaid a hyper-masculine interpretation onto dwarves because they hadn't seen much non-masculinity represented in dwarves--who, like gnomes, and halflings outside of Tolkien--get second billing to Elves.

I think some of the dwarves in Dragon Age are clean shaven? Admittedly, I've never played them, just seen footage, but I seem to recall at least one or two.

[Dr.Samurai]

I have characters with beards. It's not that I have a problem with beards per se. There's just this whole hyper-masculinity culture around dwarves and their fans that turns me off.
Shots fired!

Who cares if someone wants to play a masculine character? You're taking some traits (beard, hates elves) and then wrapping it up in a loaded term (hyper-masculinity) and calling it creepy and implying it's a problem.

I posit that either the people you play with are obnoxious or you're looking at this through some lens that need not apply.


Could I make a non-standard dwarf who's not this exaggerated stereotype? (Has a neatly-trimmed beard and doesn't hate elves and all other things non-hyper-masculine?)
Yes. Like... dwarves are not a monolith, like any other race. Like... not every elf has to be an insufferable androgynous archer. And it's okay if you play a heavily armored, axe wielding bearded dwarf. That's not a problem in and of itself.

Yes, but I feel like I'd be in a constant fight with that stereotype and that's a battle I'm not interested in picking.
Why do you feel it would be a constant battle?

[Anonymouswizard]

I think some of the dwarves in Dragon Age are clean shaven? Admittedly, I've never played them, just seen footage, but I seem to recall at least one or two.

Can't remember DA2 or Inquisition, but in Origins every male dwarf (bar Sandal*, who might be a half-dwarf) has facial hair. However quite a few only have stubble, meaning a clean shaven dwarf isn't unbelievable. My planned character for my next playthrough is a male casteless dwarf who'll take every anti-dwarven action possible, including being happy at his banishment whenever the option comes up.

* Dropping that plot thread was one of the big disappointments with Inquisition, there's something going on with that kid and they could have given us more hints.

[Luccan]

Can't remember DA2 or Inquisition, but in Origins every male dwarf (bar Sandal*, who might be a half-dwarf) has facial hair. However quite a few only have stubble, meaning a clean shaven dwarf isn't unbelievable. My planned character for my next playthrough is a male casteless dwarf who'll take every anti-dwarven action possible, including being happy at his banishment whenever the option comes up.

* Dropping that plot thread was one of the big disappointments with Inquisition, there's something going on with that kid and they could have given us more hints.

Might've just been they had shorter bears than I'm used too. Which is still pretty undwarflike compared to the stereotypes.

Personally, I like my dwarves with beards, but well kept ones. Warriors will sometimes do that candle/match/fire beard thing to terrify their enemies, but most of the time they're meticulous in their care and decorate them with beads, colorful cords, or even jewelry if they're rich (less affluent dwarves don't do that because it's a good way to lose your gemstones and family heirlooms and they can't afford to do that).

It wouldn't be hard to have some beardless dwarves. If the setting has various races pretty well socialized, a beardless dwarf might be as common as a beardless human.

[GlenSmash!]

No accent, or just has your wife's accent? :)

You are correct, she sounds like my wife.


I think some of the dwarves in Dragon Age are clean shaven? Admittedly, I've never played them, just seen footage, but I seem to recall at least one or two.

Varric eschews beards, though he does have stubble. Presumably he shaves but not often enough to be clean shaven all the time.

He also hates being underground, and in fact hates a lot of Dwarven culture altogether as its rigid caste system keeps him from marrying his lover.

So he named a crossbow after her.

Anyway he's a friggin dope npc.

[Anonymouswizard]

Might've just been they had shorter bears than I'm used too. Which is still pretty undwarflike compared to the stereotypes.

Personally, I like my dwarves with beards, but well kept ones. Warriors will sometimes do that candle/match/fire beard thing to terrify their enemies, but most of the time they're meticulous in their care and decorate them with beads, colorful cords, or even jewelry if they're rich (less affluent dwarves don't do that because it's a good way to lose your gemstones and family heirlooms and they can't afford to do that).

It wouldn't be hard to have some beardless dwarves. If the setting has various races pretty well socialized, a beardless dwarf might be as common as a beardless human.

One of the things I'm considering for my setting is adding in a lot of 'raised by other race' subraces options. One of the ones I'm fairly certain is going to be large enough to be in the core setting document (ten pages giving people enough information to be able to play) is Surface Dwarves*, a +Cha subrace who have blended into other societies as merchants and craftsmen. They traditionally go clean shaven with shoulder length hair for both genders, and are noted for being relatively fair haired with darker complexions (which is partially just spending more time in the sun).

*Potentially surface gnomes, I'm going to get rid of one of the two races and give the other some of the orphaned elements. It's leaning towards dwarves getting the axe.

[PastorofMuppets]

I’m not sure if it’s expected that DnD dwarves should just be Warhammer type imports. At least in 5e there is no more mention of being abrasive in personality, going into a frothing rage when seeing any greenskins or a required distrust of elves due to some long ago grudge.

As far as I’m aware the general guidelines for them are pretty much kinda stubborn, practical, and a tendency to get lost in crafting things. I’d imagine honesty and teamwork are important at least to those living underground as it’s more difficult to run away from problems when stuck in a smallish place together.

Beyond that ignorable baseline be whatever makes you amused. The only trait I don’t think is obvious is a tendency to be lazy, but I don’t think of that as a common trait for any adventurer.

[Demonslayer666]

...
There's just this whole hyper-masculinity culture around dwarves and their fans that turns me off. Could I make a non-standard dwarf who's not this exaggerated stereotype? (Has a neatly-trimmed beard and doesn't hate elves and all other things non-hyper-masculine?) Yes, but I feel like I'd be in a constant fight with that stereotype and that's a battle I'm not interested in picking.

That's not hyper masculinity, that's normal behavior, and simply called being a dwarf. There's nothing exaggerated about it, or wrong.

If you want to play a non-masculine dwarf, go right ahead.

You should learn how to have those discussions (they aren't battles). It's as simple as saying my dwarf isn't masculine. If they can't handle that, that's on them.

[Hail Tempus]

I think the stereotypes of Dwarves in the OP are much more based on Warhammer Dwarves than the current take on Dwarves in 5e. Warhammer races tend to exaggerate traits, and are at least partially tongue-in-cheek.

There's nothing innately overly "masculine" about Dwarves in 5e. They're industrious, family-oriented people who are somewhat wary of outsiders. None of those qualities are limited to either gender. The cultural qualities of Dwarves seem to encourage the creation of fairly inoffensive character concepts. Why would anyone be taken aback by, say, a Lawful Good life Cleric of Morradin?

[PhoenixPhyre]

My dwarves (at least the ones in the main play area) are
+ bearded (both genders) with very neatly-kept/braided beards. No seriously, the beard braiding style (including what gems/decorations you incorporate) is a key indicator of clan and standing. A shaved dwarf is an exile. A wild-bearded dwarf is insane (or a voluntary exile).

+ fiercely monogamous. You rarely see an individual dwarf who's not an adventurer--they do everything in pairs and aren't adults until they're married (at about age 20-30). When one partner dies, the other tends to go a bit mental.

+ the husband traditionally handles physical things while the wife handles people things. One's not better than the other, just complementary. Means a lot of dwarven rulers are women.

+ traditionalists to the extreme in a lot of cases, with a thing for writing. Lying in written dwarvish is the biggest taboo and violating it gets the death penalty.

+ related to giants, not gnomes.
+ don't particularly mind elves.
+ relatively androgenous--I follow the example of Terry Pratchett in this matter.

In fact, my dwarves owe a lot to Pratchett. But that's all in the main play area--not all dwarves are like that.

My dragonborn females do have breasts because they're basically humans with some dragon genetics forcibly inserted. They're not (reproductively) reptilian at all. And their scales aren't really as armor-like as dragon scales but are relatively insensitive. Dragons aren't reptiles either.

I strongly don't like pigeonholing my races. Culture is more important than race, and culture can be cross-race and each race may have dozens of cultures. Why should a dwarf from region X be anything like (except physiologically) a dwarf from region Y, 3000 miles away?

[Damon_Tor]

You calling it hyper masculine is just you imposing your human centric narrow-mindedness on the good dwarven folk. A good dwarven lassie will grow both a beard and a substantial girth to protect against the cold of the mountain side. With all the blasphemy you're spewing, I wouldn't be surprised if you were halfelf yourself!

---

Build them how you like. You're a hero, a unique light of hope (or terror) whose actions will shake kingdoms and change the course of history. Maybe (s)he always felt a bit different, maybe (s)he had other cultural influences.

Gold dwarves in Faerun are already closer to what you describe.

In my setting there are no female dwarves at all. They're an all-male species that reproduces via symbiosis with the yeast in their ale. They don't even know they're doing it, young dwarves just form in the septic pools that form in the caverns beneath their holdfasts and climb up to join civilization.

The beards and general hairyness is an adaptation to assist in the life cycle of the yeast. The spores of the yeast cling to the hairy bodies of the dwarves and make their way into the ale.

So for the yeast, the cycle goes:

Begin life as spores on the skin of infant dwarves which then climb up to join their civilization
When the dwarves drink from the vat of ale, it reintroduces new lineages of spores to the yeast
The yeast feeds on the starches and sugars in the ale, allowing them to grow quickly while fermenting the ale
The spores enter the dwarves' bodies as they drink the ale
The spores enter their adult forms inside the bodies of the dwarves, exiting when they urinate.
The adult yeast spores grow into large fungal cysts in the septic pool below and begin producing spores for the next generation on the skins of the dwarf fetuses growing there.
Return to step 1.

So to be a proper symbiote, having a hairy body that can protect and shelter the spores and keep them moist during the journey up to the holdfast is important for the dwarves, especially around the mouth, which is how they reintroduce the spores to the ale, when they dip their faces into the vat to drink.

The dwarf life cycle is thus:

Upon occasion in a dwarf's life, when he is feeling safe and content, will undego a hormonal shift, and will find himself a gregarious mood in which he will seek out good friends and become very drunk.
While drunk, dwarves release large ambulatory gametes into their urine. While gregarious they release far more than normal.
The gametes meet in the septic pools beneath the holdfast and join together, forming a dwarf zygote.
The zygotes compete with each other for a place inside a forming fungal cyst. Typically a single cyst is formed with each gregarious mood, and a given cyst will typically only host a single zygote.
The zygote implants into the cyst and forms a placenta to draw nutrients from it. Over the course of a year it grows to roughly the size of a human infant.
The gregarious dwarf, the father-to-be, begins to pine for a child while his son develops below. Most dwarves will pray to their god for a son during this time, but this is a cultural response to the longing and resulting child, not instinctive.
When the infant has grown to about the size of a human infant during about twelve months, the infant dwarf emerges from the cyst and instinctively climbs. Though they're a similar size as a human infant, a dwarf infant is significantly more physically capable, and are born with full body hair, including beard.
The infant arrives and meets his father, who is eagerly expecting his arrival. Infant dwarves are fed ale directly from the vat.

[Red Fel]

I don't see Dwarven beards as a hypermasculine thing. I see them as a form of peacocking. The term refers to dressing or presenting ostentatiously in order to secure a mate. I think Dwarven beards are a combination of that and a reflection of status. Think of it like dressing nice. A Dwarf with a mangy, unkempt beard is like a person dressing in ripped jeans and tattered pants. Maybe he doesn't have the time or money to properly maintain his appearance, maybe he's a rebel, maybe this is just comfortable, or maybe he doesn't care. By contrast, a Dwarf with a long, lustrous, well-kept beard, braided neatly with beads or metal links woven in, is showcasing his status. He has the wealth and time to care for his appearance. Maybe he needs to reflect that level of status for social reasons, maybe he's vain, maybe he's proud of what he has accomplished, or maybe he's just going to a fancy event and needs to look his best.

Alternatively, I see them like a form of heraldry. Dwarves of the Flamespire Clan all test themselves against the merciless cruelty of the flame, and thus showing off their singed beards is a form of broadcasting family pride. Dwarves of the Black Peaks regularly do battle with the vicious avian beasts of that region, and thus traditionally weave the talons of their foes into their beards. Dwarves of the Capital like to showcase their wealth and status, and thus must carefully maintain and accessorize their faces. How you maintain your beard is a way of saying who you are and where you come from.

Alternatively, I see one bucking the trend entirely and going clean-shaven. Beards get in the way while adventuring. Twigs and dirt get gunked up in there. You get tangles and split ends. Enemies can grab it for leverage. It's a mess and a pain and a half. Better to just keep a clean face. Bonus, if your enemies mistake you for some other short race, you can correct their misconceptions with a surprise warhammer to the crotch.

I guess what I'm trying to say is... What Dwarven beard fetish?

[Anonymouswizard]

I’m not sure if it’s expected that DnD dwarves should just be Warhammer type imports. At least in 5e there is no more mention of being abrasive in personality, going into a frothing rage when seeing any greenskins or a required distrust of elves due to some long ago grudge.

As far as I’m aware the general guidelines for them are pretty much kinda stubborn, practical, and a tendency to get lost in crafting things. I’d imagine honesty and teamwork are important at least to those living underground as it’s more difficult to run away from problems when stuck in a smallish place together.

Beyond that ignorable baseline be whatever makes you amused. The only trait I don’t think is obvious is a tendency to be lazy, but I don’t think of that as a common trait for any adventurer.

To be gair the abrasiveness is from back when they were justifying a Charisma penalty, and the distrust of elves thing only ever appeared in a small number of settings. So them not being abrasive is relatively new, and even nonabrasive ones are generally portrayed as gruff and stubborn.


So as my setting is coming together I've finally decided on the definitive list of races and cultures (subraces), and dwarves did not make the cut. There was just no place for underground-dwelling crafters in a setting with a heavy Rock Gnome presence. As a comprimise beards are very popular among gnomes, although generally more timmed ones.